THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The saddest thing to know in life is that success is not permanent. I don’t think I would ever accept that if not for the film BlackBerry.
PLOT
Based on the novel ‘Losing the Signal’, the 2023 film follows RIM (Research in Motion) CEO Mike Lazaridis and co founder Douglas Fredin who would go on to to create the titular cellular device. In 1996, they pitch it originally under the name ‘PocketLink’ to businessman Jim Balsillie, but it doesn’t go well as the latter is not completely impressed. When Balsillie is later fired from his job for having aggressive ambition, he would agree to work with then if made CEO and given half of the company. Mike would instead make him co CEO and give him one third of RIM, only after deducing USRobotics made a malicious attempt to bankrupt them through a previous deal. Balisillie accepts the deal and decides to mortgage his house for the sake of a cash infusion. Once in charge, he arranges a meeting with BellAtlantic (later rebranded as Verizon Communications), where Mike and Doug must make an overnight prototype of PocketLink. Mike almost loses it when traveling from Waterloo from NY, but regains it in time to sell the pitch, thus officially renaming it BlackBerry. By 2003, RIM’s success would lead to Palm CEO Carl Yankowski (Cary Elwes) attempting a hostile takeover. Intimidated, Balsillie raises the stock price by selling more phones their network can support. This would lead to it crashing like Mike had worried. And when that happens, Balsillie would poach engineers from around the world to fix the problem, as well as hire Charles Purdy (Michael Ironside) as COO of RIM who would keep engineers in line. This would disappoint Doug as he values a fun work environment. With such steps, they avoid being bought out by Yankowski. In 2007, the pitch for BlackBerry Bold would be thrown into chaos when Steve Jobs announces the iPhone for Apple. With Balsillie trying to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins from NHL, Mike would have to pitch it with Doug which goes so bad that he makes an impulsive promise to create the Storm. When he accepts the need to outsource the labor to China, he deems Doug useless. The insult would be so personal to the point his old friend would quit RIM in the process. Balsillie’s plans would get out of hand for him as well when trying to finalize his NHL deal while also trying to arrange a meeting with AT&T CEO Stan Sigman. The NHL deal backfires first when the board refuses to let him move the Penguins to Hamilton. Reaching out to Sigman wouldn’t work out either when the latter implies he’s already partnered with Apple. As this happens, Mike would be confronted by US SEC who would inform him that Balsillie hired engineers in ‘03 with backdated stock options. Knowing that legal action could be made by SEC, Mike lures out Balsillie to expose him and become RIM’s sole CEO. When the Storms arrive from China, Mike still hears bugs ladening the phones which he chooses to fix on his own. As that happens, the film ends in an epilogue revealing that the Storms were so inoperable that Verizon had to sue RIM for the sake of covering financial loss. Balsillie avoided jail time and Doug became one of the richest men in the world after selling his stock in ’07. As of ‘23, BlackBerry is now at 0% on the cell phone market and no longer produced when formerly being at 45% on the said market. THOUGHTS
I remember as a kid seeing many adults carry such a phone, which alone made me curious on how the downfall happened. Although I ironically ended up having my first phone being from Apple, I can’t deny Director Matt Johnson and co writer Matthew Miller do what felt unthinkable that is to share a story that was never thought to displayed onscreen. Nevertheless, it was quite compelling to get through because you would’ve not expected things to go the way they do until they do, which is where all the fascination kicks in. Everything about this film works as a whole because it teaches the ultimate lesson on how patience is as essential as innovation when it comes to achieving success. If you get carried away cutting corners, everything you have worked for will lose all the momentum you had going for it. This is what happened to the product itself and we accept this reality thanks to an excellent cast that become their roles with impressive costume/makeup design. Jay Baruchel really was more impressive than expected drama isn’t something we see much of in his catalog. Putting that aside, he gives a great performance as Mike Lazaridis who presents him as one who was reluctant to see the bigger picture but when he did, the greed got to him and he loses success for being ambitious when he didn’t have to be. Mike wanted to make a breakthrough in life and he did so when co creating BlackBerry, but you just wished he maintained the passion when needed most. Seeing him fixing the bugs on the box of phones when the credits roll, that just proved it was still there but came out when it was too late. The one guy who appeared to have maintain said passion was Douglas and as an actor, Johnson really had us fall in love with him for his fun loving attitude. Sure he was too lenient when it came to working loosely, but that was clearly better than rushing yourself to success which is exactly happened and it’s a shame no one really accepted that. It is a shame he and Mike lost touch when it all felt apart, but it comes to show people change the older they get. Of course, all of this chaos was not possible due to one who took all the ambition in the world to be at the top of the food chain. Glenn Howerton was known to go cutthroat in his previous performances such as in FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which is what he benefits from when seeing him portray Balsillie. He was such an enigma to behold because he didn’t want to hold back when it came to potential. He knew BlackBerry can be successful and didn’t want to waste any opportunity to get there. He helped it get there for sure, but he got carried away surpassing expectations while also getting too hungry for the power he didn’t need nor did he have enough to do what he wanted. I mean I probably would have bought a hockey team if I had the money like he did, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it after that. Had he been more rational, I think things would’ve gone more his way. He’s even pretty lucky to avoid jail time for his crimes, so I respect the hustle indeed. Wherever he is now, much like Mike & Doug, I’m sure they’re in a better place mentally than in the 2000s. In short, BlackBerry is one of the most satisfying dramas to watch for sharing one of the gripping business stories of the 21st century. Whatever your cell phone preference, this is worth the time.
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